Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1014: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage to Ask for a Traitor

The next day, Zhu Su announced in public during the morning class at Wuqu Academy that he would accept Fan Huai, who had won the top spot in academic performance twice in a row, as his disciple. The ordinary students were excited, but because Li Li and others had already informed the ordinary students of Zhu Su's plan in advance, the ordinary students did not have any extreme reaction to this matter.

On the contrary, many people in the elite class were quite dissatisfied and kept whispering. Someone came forward and said, "Your Highness, Fan Huai's family is just a merchant family. How did he get the first place twice? I still have doubts. How can he be worthy of being your disciple?"

"As scholars, we should be both virtuous and talented. Fan Huai has excellent academic performance, but his moral character..."

There was something meaningful in his words, and many people in the general department had already begun to get angry and denounce him.

"What do you mean, you bastard?"

"Bloody mouth!"

Zhu Su raised his eyebrows and waved his hand to stop the restlessness of the ordinary scholars. He asked the scholar who stood out with interest: "So, do you think Fan Huai is suspected of cheating?"

"Your Highness, I dare not make rash assertions." The man seemed to be well prepared, bowed deeply, and said neither humbly nor arrogantly. "However, Fan Huai was originally a merchant and had no place to study, but in just one month, he was able to get the first place in the exam. Merchants are often treacherous, and no one knows whether Fan Huai got the first place in the exam or not."

"Therefore, I think that Fan Huai is of low status and his moral character is questionable, so he should not be accepted as a disciple by Your Highness. In my opinion, Your Highness's disciples should be people with both moral integrity and talent."

"Oh?" Zhu Su still had an interested look on his face, and deliberately asked inquiringly, "But you can't tell a person's heart from his face. It's hard to identify a virtuous person. What do you think?"

Seeing that Zhu Su seemed to be really convinced by his words, the student was secretly delighted, bowed deeply, and said, "Your Highness can accept the recommendation of everyone. I think that Li Cang, the elite scientist, has a long-standing reputation for talent, noble family background, and both moral integrity and talent. He can be your disciple."

"Your Highness should abandon Fan Huai and join Li Cang. Only then will we be convinced and Your Highness will also gain a good disciple."

This person was a confidant of Li Cang who was ordered to lead the charge. Li Cang's original intention was to stir up Zhu Su's doubts about Fan Huai's knowledge, and then he would step out and ask to compete with Fan Huai in knowledge. In this way, he could prove that his knowledge was better than Fan Huai's in front of everyone.

However, when his confidant saw Zhu Su's "intention", he took the initiative, was greedy for merit and took the initiative to directly propose the idea of ​​exchanging Li Cang for Fan Huai. He was also quite complacent and felt that he had made a great contribution to the Li family.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Su's face darkened and he scolded, "Are you teaching me how to do things?"

The elite student was startled and looked up at Zhu Su in astonishment.

"You are slandering your classmate with groundless rumors. You talk about virtues but never about background... What virtues did you mention today? How is your background nobler than Fan Huai's?" Zhu Su stood up and scolded.

The student's face froze, and he said subconsciously: "I am Wu from Qinghua..."

"Qinghua Wu family? Never heard of it." Zhu Su stood tall, his face gloomy. The scholar surnamed Wu then remembered that the man in front of him was a prince of the Ming Dynasty. If he told him about his origin, who in Annan would be worthy of his attention? The noble prince of the Heavenly Dynasty said, "Strip him of his clothes and drive him out of Wuqu."

"This person has a corrupt character and he judges people by their family background. Our Wuqu Concession is small and cannot accommodate the children of such a noble family."

"Yes." Immediately, the personal guards accompanying Zhu Su came in and dragged the student from the Wu family out. The student was stunned for a moment, knowing that he would have no place to stand in the family or even in the entire Annan after being stripped of his long gown and thrown out of Wu Qu. He finally struggled frantically.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, I am not...I..."

"Second Young Master! I'm working for the Li family! Second Young Master!"

Seeing Zhu Su's cold expression, the scholar surnamed Wu no longer cared about covering up Li Cang's tracks and pleaded in the direction of Li Cang. Li Cang's face turned dark and he had to pretend not to hear.

Soon the student was stripped of his long gown, leaving only his inner garment. The fierce and ferocious personal guards of King Zhou grabbed the crying student like a chick and took him out. The elite science students who were ready to make a move were all silent at the sight of this tragic scene.

Only then did they remember that this young prince, who seemed gentle and elegant on weekdays, seemed to be a decisive and ruthless general of the Heavenly Dynasty.

He... was so protective that he was furious for a disciple who had just joined the sect?
Zhu Su glanced at Li Cang coldly. Li Cang's whole body stiffened and he felt a sudden chill passing over him.

But he still gritted his teeth and stepped out, saying, "Your Highness. Although Wu Youguang made some false statements, there is indeed something strange about Brother Fan Huai's results."

"I am not talented, please compete with Brother Fan Huai on the spot. If I can win on the spot, please explain why you can take the first place twice..."

He did not dare to look at Zhu Su, nor did he dare to say that he wanted to influence Zhu Su's decision. Instead, he turned around and looked at "Fan Huai" in the general department queue, who was always looking at his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose, like an old monk in meditation.

"..." Zhu Su's face became even more gloomy, staring straight at Li Cang, and Li Cheng beside Li Cang kept pulling his brother's sleeve. Finally, before Li Cang almost couldn't hold on and his knees were about to weaken, Zhu Su spoke: "In this case, it's okay."

"Huai, you will have a debate with this person. If you lose, I will take back my decision to accept you as my disciple."

"Yes." Huang Huai, who used the alias Fan Huai, took a step forward, his face still calm.

"Li Cang." Zhu Su turned to Li Cang and said, "Since you question my decision, I will give you a chance."

"But if you lose this debate to Fan Huai, you should go back to your home."

"I will explain to your father that I cannot teach you. Let your father discipline you himself."

After saying that, he snorted coldly and walked away.

Everyone looked at each other in silence, and looked at Fan Huai and Li Cang woodenly. No one had expected things to develop to this point.

Even the ordinary students were envious of Fan Huai: His Royal Highness King Zhou was so protective of his students that he even lost his temper and got angry...

This, this is really...

Li Cang's forehead was covered with sweat, but in his heart, he felt relieved. The King of Zhou finally agreed to let him fight with Fan Huai. As long as he could defeat Fan Huai, it didn't matter if he was hated by the King of Zhou.

As for whether he could win... Li Cang believed that there was no possibility that he would lose to Fan Huai.

"Then, Brother Li, please ask the questions." Fan Huai still looked calm. He gently extended his hand to Li Cang and made a "please" gesture.

Li Cang felt slightly angry. Letting the other party set the questions, this kind of calmness should not appear in a damn merchant's son. But he was too eager to refute Fan Huai to the ground and admire his frustrated and desperate look when he lost the title of Zhou Wang's disciple, so he thought about it and finally did not refuse.

"Brother Fan, listen carefully. Confucius once said:..."

……

"Your Highness, is it really a good idea to let Li Cang and Zong Yu debate?" Huang Guan, who was following Zhu Su as he walked quickly forward, asked with some concern.

"Why, Shangbin doesn't believe that Zong Yu can refute Li Cang?" Zhu Su said, with a faint smile on his face, not even a bit of the anger he had just shown. He comforted Huang Guan, "Don't worry, this section was Zong Yu's own request."

"He knew that Li Cang disliked him and would definitely try every means to prevent him from becoming a disciple of me, the King of Zhou."

"Therefore, I have made preparations to fight with Li Cangwen." Zhu Su said.

"It just so happens that today's show of recruiting a disciple is meant to be seen by those Annan nobles. It is to let them know how much I, the King of Zhou, value this disciple Zong Yu. It makes them feel that if they can win over Zong Yu, they will surely be able to make me, the King of Zhou, and even the Ming Dynasty, their helpers."

"Let Zong Yu and Li Cang debate with each other, which can also promote Zong Yu's talent and make him more valuable in the hearts of the Annan people." Zhu Su said.

What he wants to do now is to make "Fan Huai" into a coveted golden baby, so that the Li family can realize that "Fan Huai" is a "gap" that can win the support of the Ming Dynasty in disguise, and thus insert the traitor "Fan Huai" into the decision-making level of the Li family.

"Have the managers of the Li and Ruan families met him?" Zhu Su asked.

"Yes," Huang Guan said. "They all left behind a lot of gifts. We also made a frank request to the Le and Nguyen families. If we want the Ming Dynasty to support a certain family, they must issue a guarantee for Fan Huai so that Fan Huai can participate in the Annan imperial examination."

"Isn't this request... a little too easy?"

"It won't be easy." Zhu Su said. "The guarantee letter is a means for these nobles to monopolize wealth in Annan. They issued a guarantee letter for Zong Yu for our sake, so they must do it well from beginning to end, and they will not just issue a guarantee letter."

"We must also ensure that Zong Yu can pass the imperial examination and become an official, and we must protect Zong Yu's career all the way, only then can it be considered perfect. Ensuring that a merchant's son can become an official is undoubtedly digging into the corners of the gentry, and setting a precedent that the unspoken rules they created, which are like a copper wall and iron wall, will not be affected."

"They know the weight of this. After doing this, Li Jizhen will need to cut off more meat to compensate other dissatisfied nobles. In order to prove his noble position, he will also personally tie the hole tighter."

"As the gap gets tighter, some people will become more dissatisfied. The more dissatisfied they are, the more they will want us, the Ming Dynasty, to turn the tide..."

"Your Highness." Zhu Suzheng and Huang Guan were talking when Sanbao suddenly came to report. "In the front hall, Mr. Huang has already refuted that Li Cang."

"Are you going to drive Li Cang out of Wu Qu as well?"

"Look." Hearing that Huang Huai had won, Zhu Su smiled and looked at Huang Guan beside him. Huang Huai was not really uneducated. He was already in his twenties. He had probably spent more than twenty years studying various Confucian classics and histories. How could he not win against a dandy boy from a small border country? "Since we have won, we should drive Li Cang out."

"Let's hand him over to Fan Julun in the city, so that Li Jili will know that the king has saved his face."

"Yes." Sanbao went down by himself. Zhu Su turned around and said to Huang Guan with a smile: "When Zong Yu sneaks into the Li family, Shangbin, your plan will be considered to have achieved initial success."

"Let's discuss how to make Zong Yu more important in the Li family..."

……

On the other side of Wuqu Harbor, Fan Julun looked at the dejected Li Cang with a serious face, then turned to Li Cheng who had escorted him over and said, "Master, you said that the second master lost the debate to the Zhou King's disciple who was born in a merchant family, and therefore offended the Zhou King and was sent back by the academy?"

"Yeah." Li Cheng's face was also a little ugly. He remembered the debate this morning, which could be said to be a crushing one.

He did not, like his brother, think that Fan Huai was an ignorant and cheating villain, but at least he did not think that a commoner could beat the children of the noble families who had studied since childhood in just two or three months. However, the fact was that Fan Huai won, and there was no suspense in his victory.

When his younger brother Li Cang asked the question, Fan Huai changed his usual taciturn appearance and spoke eloquently and incessantly, like a raging wave crashing against the shore, completely beating his younger brother Li Cang to death on the ground in the teaching garden.

Until now, Li Cang, who had suffered such a heavy blow, still had not reacted.

After listening to Li Cheng's story, Fan Julun's frown deepened. He looked at Li Cang, who was still keeping his head down, with a bit of reproach, and said, "This... is difficult to deal with."

"Lord Li hoped that the two young masters could be accepted as disciples of King Zhou. But now, the two young masters have offended King Zhou instead. This..."

After saying this, he glanced at Li Cheng, knowing full well that this young master had made no achievements in his studies, so he shook his head.

The King of Zhou had someone offer them a price, requiring them to support whichever of the Li and Ruan families could push their so-called disciple Fan Huai to become an official.

Fan Julun thought about this request for a long time and felt that he had completely figured out the Ming Dynasty's intentions.

The Ming Dynasty did not trust the Le family or the Nguyen family and wanted to support a force that truly belonged to them in Annan. Therefore, they chose Fan Huai, who had no foundation but was gifted by nature, and wanted to place Fan Huai in the Annan court to achieve the goal of controlling Annan from afar.

This also explains why the King of Zhou protected and valued this disciple so much that he even did not hesitate to get angry for him.

A weak foundation makes it easier to control, but it is also because of the weak foundation that Fan Huai has to rely on the power of the Li family or the Ruan family to lay a solid foundation for Fan Huai's official career. Fan Julun thought for a long time and felt that the Li family could agree to the Ming Dynasty's condition. On the one hand, he could win over Fan Huai and show his goodwill to King Zhou, and to a certain extent gain King Zhou's support.

Second...the Ming Dynasty can show favor to Fan Huai, and their Li family can also show favor to Fan Huai.

After all, Fan Huai is an Annanite, so it is obvious who is close to him and who is distant.

It is still unknown whether he will be close to Annan or the Ming Dynasty in the future.

"There is only one way to go now."

"I would like to ask the two gentlemen to join me in inviting Fan Huaili back to my Li family. Even if it means three visits to his cottage, I would not hesitate." Fan Julun said.

(End of this chapter)